GOP leaders pressured for balanced federal budget

ALAN FRAMAssociated Press

Published Tuesday, January 29, 2002

WASHINGTON (AP) -- House conservatives looking ahead to the November elections are trying to persuade Republican congressional leaders to produce a balanced budget, but are so far being met with skepticism.

The campaign comes as President Bush prepares to submit a $2.1 trillion budget to Congress next week that projects an $80 billion deficit for next year. The last budget to propose an annual deficit was submitted in February 1997 by then-President Clinton.

The conservative effort also comes just over nine months before elections in which control of the House and Senate are at stake. Some Republicans say they worry that another round of big spending increases -- mostly for defense and homeland security -- will turn off conservative and many independent voters.

"There's a lot of political appeal to supporting a balanced budget," said Rep. Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., a leader of the effort to produce a balanced budget for fiscal 2003, which starts Oct. 1. "A lot of members ran on that basis and have based their credibility on an ability to deliver a balanced budget."

House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, championed the idea at a meeting House GOP leaders had last Friday with White House budget chief Mitchell Daniels in St. Michael's, Md., say people familiar with the session. A balanced congressional budget -- a nonbinding blueprint that lawmakers use -- would help keep subsequent spending bills from getting too costly and further annoying many voters, he argued.

Even so, many other House Republicans doubt that enough savings can be found to succeed. That's due to the popularity of Bush's proposed spending increases and likely bipartisan efforts for campaign-season boosts for agriculture, education and other programs.

"Politically, it's essential that Republicans not allow Democrats to get to their right on fiscal responsibility," said Stephen Moore, a budget analyst for the conservative-leaning Cato Institute. "But in this political climate, where even some Republicans have become big spenders, it's difficult" to balance the budget.

"I don't want to dismiss" the proposal, said House Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, who will be a chief author of the House GOP's budget. "But achieving that is going to be very difficult."

Not included in the conservatives' calculations is next year's $75 billion price tag for the economic stimulus package Bush will include in his budget. Most members of both parties consider it politically impossible to balance next year's budget if that amount of savings is needed.

Toomey and other Republicans say they support the stimulus proposal but believe it will probably be blocked by the Senate's majority Democrats. Democrats consider the package a tax giveaway to corporations and the well-to-do, preferring a smaller package more focused on help for the unemployed.

The conservatives say they might as well take advantage of that and craft a balanced budget that voices support for the stimulus measure, but does not factor in its costs.

That drew criticism from Democrats.

"You say you're balancing the budget, but it's not balanced and that's supposed to mean something?" said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D. "That just takes falsity to a whole new level."

Last week, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected a $14 billion deficit for next year. Toomey said he believes such savings can be found in the rest of the $2.1 trillion budget, even if programs like Social Security, Medicare and veterans benefits are protected.

But others noted that the CBO estimate assumed the unlikely scenario that neither the stimulus measure nor any spending increases for defense, homeland security or other programs would be enacted.

"There's more likelihood that they'll find the cure for cancer this year than balance the budget," said Marshall Wittmann, who studies Congress for the conservative Hudson Institute.

Bush will propose letting most federal programs grow by about 9 percent this year, excluding benefits like Medicare. But that includes huge increases he wants for defense and homeland security, with the rest growing by just 2 percent.

Last year, he proposed a 4 percent increase but it grew by 11 percent, including the end-of-year anti-terrorism package. It grew by 9 percent the year before last.

The conservatives plan to present their idea to their colleagues at this week's congressional Republican retreat at the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia.